A client forwarded me an article that came from, Mike Kirby, the Branch Manager with Wells Fargo in Eagle, ID. I was unable to find a direct link to the article, but I have pasted the information that was included. Please keep in mind, these are national numbers.

· Existing home sales rose 5.1% in March to 5.33 million units, following February’s 7.3% decline. The first-quarter average was 5.29 million units, 1.1% above the last year’s 5.23 million-unit sales rate. All data are shown as seasonally adjusted annual rates.1

· The median price of existing homes sold in March was $222,700, 5.7% above the median price recorded in March 2014.1

· Housing starts in the first quarter of 2016 virtually matched the pace set in the fourth quarter of 2015 at 1.133 million units at a seasonally adjusted annual rate. That’s up 15.9% from the 978,000-unit rate set in the fourth quarter of 2014.2

· At 792,000 units, starts on single-family homes in the first quarter were up 4.7% from the fourth quarter of 2015 and up 23.2% from a year earlier.2

· The yield on 10-year Treasury securities, a leading guidepost for pricing mortgages, averaged 1.89% in March, down from 2.24% in December. Through the first 19 days of April, it’s averaged 1.76%. Last year, it averaged 2.14%, with June’s 2.36% being the highest monthly average in 2015.3

· Industrial production slipped by 0.6% for the second consecutive month in March. The index, which measures output at the nation’s factories, mines, and electric and gas utilities, has fallen by 2.0% since March 2015 and has registered 13 monthly declines in the last 16 months.4

· The Consumer Price Index rose 0.1% in March. In the past year, the index has climbed 0.9%. The core CPI, which excludes the volatile food and energy sectors, also grew 0.1% in March and is up 2.2% in the past year.5

· The average rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages in Freddie Mac’s survey was 3.59% during the week ending April 21, an increase of 1 basis point from the previous week. The March average was 3.69%. All rates quoted have fees and points averaging 0.5% to 0.7% of the loan amount.6